An Arkansas judge has purported to "strike down" part of the state's law on birth certificates, a move that would allow a child's birth certificate to list two women or two men as the "parents." Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox late Tuesday afternoon declared parts of the state's birth certificate law unconstitutional since the U.S. Supreme Court purported to redefine marriage for the entire nation.
A southwest Missouri school district has a new policy governing bathroom usage for transgender students that some anti-gender activists are calling discriminatory. The Marionville School District recently adopted a policy allowing students to either use a gender-neutral bathroom or a bathroom designated for their biological sex. However; name-changing, incorrect pronoun usage, and cross-dressing will be allowed under the policy.
A Kansas sperm donor is fighting attempts by the state to designate him the legal parent of his five-year-old daughter. William Marotta doesn't want to pay child support for a 5-year-old girl artificially conceived with his sperm for a same-sex couple. In a court filing less than two weeks ago, Marotta's attorney argued that the state shouldn’t discriminate against the female-female couple by "forcing" the child to have a male parent.
A southern Wisconsin elementary school cancelled a planned reading of a children's book about a boy who realized he had "a girl's brain in a boy's body," after Liberty Counsel threatened to sue. In a letter, Liberty Counsel contended that reading the book would violate parental rights. The Mount Horeb Area School District released a statement Wednesday saying it will not proceed with its planned reading of the book "I am Jazz."
Christian conservatives say they’re looking for clarification on how far Marco Rubio is willing to go to fight the U.S. Supreme Court ruling purporting to redefine marriage. In a recent interview, David Brody asked Rubio whether the Obergefell ruling is settled law. “It is current law; it is not settled law," Rubio said. "No law is settled. Roe v. Wade is current law, but it doesn’t mean that we don’t continue to aspire to fix it. We think it’s wrong.”
Both same-sex partners can be listed as "parents" on a child's birth certificate, an Arkansas judge ruled Monday. Monday's order applies only to three female-female couples who challenged the Arkansas Health Department's Vital Statistics Bureau. The couples claimed they were denied the treatment afforded real mothers and fathers. Judge Tim Fox is considering whether to apply his decision to the entire state.
Five girls in Santa Rosa, Calif. have asked their local Boy Scout council to admit them to their ranks. The girls, who go by the name "The Unicorns," are between the ages of 10-13. Despite the common knowledge that boy scouts are boys by definition, Santa Rosa Boy Scout officials said they would forward the request to the national office. This follows a decision by the Boy Scouts earlier this year to allow for homosexual scout leaders.
Social network giant Twitter has banned onsite blood drives in its offices worldwide where regulations do not permit blood donations from homosexual men, a move that pro-homosexual activists say is a first for a public technology company. For the past three decades, blood donations from homosexual men have been barred by the FDA, due to the discovery that HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, can be transmitted through transfusions.
A bill to prohibit male students in Wisconsin from using female designated facilities in public schools and vice versa faced a contentious, hours-long hearing on Thursday. Supporters of the bill argued that maintaining gender distinction in school facilities would protect each student's right to privacy, while opponents claimed that doing so would put students at risk for discrimination and harassment.
The operators of a well-known agro-tourism farm in the state of New York were in court Monday, appealing a fine by the state Human Rights Commission for their refusal to perform a "wedding" for a same-sex couple. Melisa McCarthy and Jenny McCarthy were turned away by the owners of Liberty Ridge in 2012. Last year, the Human Rights Commission fined the venue $13,000 — $10,000 to the state and $1,500 to each partner.
At the urging of Senate leader David Long, Indiana Senate Republicans decided last week to ban Sen. Jim Smith from future GOP caucus meetings and to require him to sit with Democrats in the Senate chamber. Smith was punished for exposing a bill that had yet to be revealed in a Nov. 5 Facebook post. In the post, Smith wrote, “The Indiana senate republican leadership is pushing a homosexual civil rights bill … What do you think?”
The American Civil Liberties Union says a Kentucky clerk should reissue altered marriage licenses even though the governor has promised to recognize them as valid. Two months ago, Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis spent five days in jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses. Her deputies then began issuing them without her authorization. When released, Davis altered the licenses to remove her name and the name of the county.
A former Eagle Gate College adjunct instructor is suing the school, accusing them of discriminating against him because he is "married" to a man. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Salt Lake City's U.S. District Court, alleges that Dustin Kennedy was not treated fairly in his hiring, firing or access to benefits because he did not "conform to gender-based expectations or norms."
A lawsuit is headed to trial that claims Gov. Bobby Jindal violated the state constitution by issuing an executive order barring Louisiana from denying or revoking tax exemptions and deductions, contracts and other pacts based on a person’s opposition to same-sex "marriage." State District Judge Todd Hernandez refused Wednesday to throw out the suit filed in Baton Rouge by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Louisiana.
Republicans pushed Thursday for Wisconsin to become the first state to prohibit public school students from using a bathroom or locker room which is reserved for the opposite gender. The bill defines gender as "the physical condition of being male or female, as determined by an individual's chromosomes and identified at birth by that individual's anatomy." It's unclear whether the bill will pass when lawmakers return in January.
Massachusetts Democrats have delayed a bill that would allow people with gender dysphoria to use the restroom of their choice in hospitals, parks, restaurants, public schools, etc. The bill was expected to get a vote before legislators took a seven-week vacation, but “there are a lot of members who have reservations,” a top Democrat told State House News Service. Any votes are now pushed to 2016.
One Republican has joined eight Democrats in creating the first "Transgender Equality Task Force" in Congress. Created by the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus and chaired by Rep. Mike Honda, D-CA, the task force held a hearing yesterday to discuss challenges, especially violence, that transgender advocates say are prevalent among transgendered Americans.
On Tuesday, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled in favor of Charlene Ramey, who is seeking custodial rights to the child of her former female partner, Kimberly Sutton. The decision overturns the Oklahoma County District Court, who dismissed Ramey's case on the grounds that she was not the biological parent, was never "married" to Sutton and did not have a written co-parenting agreement in place that could be enforced.
Indiana Senate Republicans introduced legislation Tuesday that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the state's civil rights laws while carving out some exemptions for those with strong religious objections. The measure immediately drew criticism from both sides of the issue, some claiming that it falls far too short of full "equality," others expressing concern that it would interfere with their Christian beliefs.
Former Utah lawmaker Jackie Biskupski will become the first openly homosexual mayor of Salt Lake City, election results showed on Tuesday. Commenting on the Utah judge who faced criticism after trying to take a foster child away from two homosexual women and place her with a married couple, Biskupski said she was proud of Utah's Republican governor for criticizing the action. She called the judge's ruling "so old and rhetorical."
Marriage licenses altered last summer by Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis don’t meet the state’s legal requirements, but they should be considered valid, lawyers for Gov. Steve Beshear told a federal judge Friday. Davis, who opposes same-sex "marriage," changed the wording of state-issued license forms in September to remove her name and the name of Rowan County. Instead, the licenses read, "Pursuant to federal court order."
A Utah judge who sparked outcry when he ordered a foster child to be taken from the home of two lesbians [pictured] and placed with a married couple removed himself from the case on Monday. Seventh District Juvenile Judge Scott Johansen disqualified himself from the case and referred it to the court's presiding judge, Mary Manley, according to a copy of the court order published online by "gay rights" organization Equality Utah.
A woman in Alabama asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to review her case after Alabama judges refused to recognize the adoption of her female partner's children that was granted in the State of Georgia. The Alabama Supreme Court in September struck down the woman's visitation rights and ruled the adoption invalid, saying the Georgia court was wrong under that state's adoption laws to recognize it.
DES MOINES, Iowa — A group of Christians who have faced persecution over issues like marriage and homosexuality declared at a recent religious liberty gathering that the experience has served to strengthen their faith. Aaron and Melissa Klein, Air Force Sergeant Phillip Monk, and Dick and Betty Odgaard told a crowd at the Freedom 2015 National Religious Liberties Conference that they were more ready than ever for persecution.
"LGBT"-owned businesses will now be given priority for Massachusetts state contracts, thanks to an executive order issued by Republican Governor Charlie Baker. In order to receive this preferential treatment, one must prove their "LGBT status." One of the forms of proof is "[e]vidence of completed or attempted parenting or family building efforts with same-sex partners including surrogacy, adoption, or in-vitro fertilization procedures."